Alltime high turnout of 74.6% in Himachal polls

Women lead the surge, previous record was 74.5% in 2003 elections, VVPAT snags in 218 booths

People in Himachal Pradesh came out in droves on Thursday to pick the new assembly, with the hill state witnessing a record 74.6% turnout amid reports of widespread glitches in voting machines on an otherwise peaceful day.

The high poll percentage, which is more than the previous high of 74.51% in the 2003 assembly polls, reflects the strong interest among the 50.25 lakh voters in the hard-fought election between two arch-rivals, the Congress and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP). In keeping with the state’s history, women voters also turned up in large numbers.

Chief electoral officer Pushpendra Rajput told HT that 74.6% voter turnout was registered. He said the highest voter turnout of 82% was reported in Sirmaur district having five assembly segments. Hamirpur district, which has five constituencies, registered the lowest polling percentage at 69.5%.

As many as 337 candidates are in the fray for 68 assembly seats, the results of which would be declared on December 18 along with those for Gujarat, where election will be held in two phases in December.

Chief minister Virbhadra Singh, eyeing a seventh term, and BJP’s CM candidate Prem Kumar Dhumal were among the first to cast their vote in the state that hasn’t returned a government in the last 30 years.

But the star of the day was independent India’s first voter, 100-year-old Shyam Saran Negi. A red carpet was rolled out for the retired school teacher who exercised his right in Kalpa in Kinnaur district that borders Tibet. Negi entered the history books when he became first Indian to cast his vote in the 1951 Lok Sabha election. Negi has voted in 16 parliamentary and 13 state elections.

His enthusiasm seems to have rubbed off even though voting got off to a slow start. Only 13.72% voting was reported in the first two hours but it picked up to reach 28.6% till noon. It touched 54% at 2 pm and touched the 74% mark at 5 pm. Voting went well beyond the 5 pm deadline with long queues outside more than 600 polling booths.

High polling was reported from Banjar, Balh, Doon, Siraj, Una, Nalagarh, Shilai, Chopal, Lahaul and Spiti, Kinnaur and Jubbal Kotkhai assembly segments where the BJP and the Congress were either locked in a fierce fight. In some of these assembly segments, rebels and independent candidates made the contest triangular.

The brisk day of polling was marred by snags in voting machines at several places. The voter-verifiable paper audit trail (VVPAT) machines – a verification printer device attached to EVMs – developed snags at 218 booths, delaying polling. Also, 101 ballot units and 67 control units had problems.

in the interiors of Solan district of Himachal, the Arki Vidhan Sabha constituency, which has maximum number of voters in the district, registered over 74% turnout. In the 2012 elections, the constituency witnessed 73% voting.

One of the key seats of the state where chief minister Virbhadra Singh faces BJP firsttimer Rattan Pal Singh, Arki woke up to a rather dull voting as it was about 10% by 10 am. But it picked up as the day progressed. By 1pm, the constituency recorded 40% voting and it rose to 74% by 6pm. Voting went on till 6pm at five polling stations, including Bhararighat, where villagers turned up to cast their votes after daily chores.

Queues were swelling up with time at most of the 130 polling stations spread in Arki town and 57 panchayats in the Arki tehsil.

The constituency has 83,600 voters, including 41,655 women. While thin queues were seen at Batal, Manjoo, Chandi and Dharla village, Arki town saw constant voting.

Virbhadra is contesting from Arki for the first time as he vacated the Shimla Rural seat, from where he was elected in 2012 polls, for his son Vikramaditya Singh.

The BJP too sprung a surprise by denying ticket to the two-time sitting MLA Govind Ram Sharma and picking Rattan Pal Singh, 45, who is an active Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) worker. He was chosen by the party after his role as a strategist in the recent Shimla municipal corporation polls, which the BJP won after 30 years.

Traditionally a Congress citadel, the BJP won the seat in the 2007 and 2012 polls. Shekhar Kumar, a schoolteacher, said the seat historically belonged to the Congress as late Dharam Pal Thakur won elections from here thrice in a row. The BJP won the seat in 2007 after the Congress denied ticket to Thakur, he said.

The constituency had witnessed aggressive campaigning with BJP stalwarts Union home minister Rajnath Singh, Union health minister JP Nadda and UP chief minister Yogi Adityanath holding rallies for the party candidate.